It is interesting to see the variation of real estate prices from a comparative point of view and that is the idea of this article. The three charts below use the information obtained from the Land Registry and the web page Idealista to be able to compare where are prices for real estate in Benahavis and the results are interesting.
CHART 1—ASKING PRICE VS SOLD PRICE
On the first chart, it can be seen the difference between “for sale” or asking prices as published in the real estate portal Idealista versus the price properties are being sold as per the Land Registry. It is interesting to see that the asking price did not start to increase until mid 2016 while sold prices had already been increasing for some years to reach a minimum gap of 15,3% between them and since then, as the market was heating up, the increase in asking prices was not accompanied by an increase in sold prices that drove to a maximum gap now of 34.4% between them. In summary that means that, right now, the average property in the market is 34% overpriced in Benahavis.
CHART 2—PRICES OF NEW VS SECOND HAND
The second chart shows the price of new units sold versus second hand sold also shows interesting numbers. It can be seen that both curves run almost parallel with a more or less stable gap of 65% that means that new units are being sold 65% more expensive than second hand properties which is a high percentage. That opens the door to buying second hand and fully refurbish it to get a new looking unit for a cheaper price than a fully new unit or, what we have seen lately, to flipping investors.
CHART 3—ANNUAL VARIATION OF SOLD PRICES
Finally, and in the last chart, it can be seen that the average increase in sold prices in the last five years has been 4,2% per year. There is anomaly in the numbers of 2019 due to the sale of a full development previously repossessed by a bank that sold at a cheap price per square meter to a developer that affected the general numbers of Benahavis that year but not really the average. The combined increase of prices in 2019 and 2020 is corrected to 0,7% that shows already a moderation tendency in prices in the last two years.